Room
by fluffybluff
Summary: After a little more than a year since he arrived, the room was finally empty again.


DISCLAIMER: RK ISN'T MINE.

AN: Some boring stuff I wrote before going to sleep. I was thinking why, oh why was this story keep on popping on my head, and it turns out to be 14 May melancholy. I am still doing Tutoring and The Intersection, I just need more time to edit some stuff that I didn't like from Tutoring. As for The Intersection, I just started writing the new chapter, so it will be long before I actually released that one. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this fic (it's not much, I know. It's nothing, even :P) and don't forget to review.

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**ROOM**

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Kaoru looked at the empty room and sighed. It was empty again; not even a single thing was left behind. It really reminded her of the first time he came into her life. He brought nothing but a small shabby bundle. He didn't need much, he said. He had another pair of clothes, a worn out yukata that was too short for him, a shabby dark blue gi and an old white hakama which had turned yellow and torn in a few places. He had a box of matches, and by now, of course, we had used all of them and thrown away the case. She didn't really know what else did he have, but she was sure that it wasn't much, the bundle was too small for anything.

After Kenshin had started using that room, she never openly entered it anymore. He cleaned the room himself, and Kaoru used to take a little peek every now and then to see what the room had become. Well, maybe she wasn't concerned at all about the room, she just wanted to know what kind of life the rurouni had when he wasn't around her and Yahiko.

The first month he was living with her, the room was empty, as if no one was staying there and sleeping there every night. The futon was always placed neatly on the floor, and there were no traces of any keepsakes or belongings in any way. Sometimes, when Kenshin went out to buy something from the marketplace, Kaoru always had this sudden fear that he might not come back this time. His room was much too empty to give her any comfort, a promise that he wouldn't go anywhere.

He was detached, yes, but Kaoru realized that he would never leave without saying goodbye. She realized that only when he left for Kyoto, leaving a simple goodbye, a hug, and whispers that seemed too unreal. Even after she managed to get out of the bed, she still felt like his arrival, his departure, and the days she spent with him were all just parts of a dream that ended badly. She tried looking for traces of him in his old room, but she couldn't find anything. The only difference was the fact that the futon which had always been there, folded up neatly by the rurouni, was already stored back in the storage room by Yahiko. It was unbelievable that the lack of a folded futon could make Kaoru's heart ached so badly.

After they returned from Kyoto, Kaoru continued her secret habit of taking a small peek at Kenshin's room. It was started from a pair of small tea cups on the table, which was always empty before. The tea cups, of course, moved to their new home in the kitchen after they started using it. But slowly, things on the table accumulated. Ink, brush, some papers… After the table, came the rest of the room. The small storage place on the wall that was always empty now filled with two different gis, one blue and one another magenta gi, a white hakama and three sleeping yukatas. The two yukatas were brand new, and the first time Kaoru saw that, she couldn't help but smile. It seemed that it had been a long time since he bought himself some new clothes.

Kaoru found even more things after the Enishi debacle. The weirdest thing was, even though they just had been through a big battle, Kenshin wasn't too cautious like before anymore. Several times Kaoru saw his sakabatou was left unattended in his room while he was out of the house doing his chores. He also became a little careless; he sometimes forgot to fold his futon in the morning, leaving it messy in the middle of the room. He also left his dirty clothes in one corner of the room sometimes, something he would never have done before.

For some odd reason, these little carelessness made Kaoru happy.

Over the time, the amounts of the books he owned accumulated, from one, two, to five. He piled them up on the table, together with his small ink box and small brush. He also kept some of the letters from Kyoto, the ones which Kaoru forgot to keep. He had two bottles of sake stashed in his storage, together with his clothes. Apparently, it was Sano's request to "save" his "babies" from Yahiko, if he really moved into the row house. He told Kenshin to keep them in his room for when he returned. The rurouni also had some new socks and a pair of spare geta that he kept right beside the two big bottles of Sano's liquor.

After a little more than a year since he arrived, the room was finally empty again.

Kaoru inhaled as she stared at the empty room. She smiled as she saw traces of him; a small dirty area on the wall where he usually leaned his sword to, small black spots on the tatami near the table from when he was careless and spilt some black ink when he, Kaoru and Yahiko tried to write back to Misao and everyone in Kyoto, also the two jars of sake that were sitting in the storage, abandoned and forgotten, popped out of the storage door a little, as if trying to seek Kaoru's attention. And the scent, it was the scent of the man she knew so well.

"So now you're going to be empty again. Otsukaresama deshita." She murmured as she took out the only remaining box from the room and moved it into her room. She sighed and sat on the tatami floor, before she heard a rustle outside on the engawa. She opened her room door and saw Kenshin, covered in sweat.

"Tadaima. Sorry you have to move my stuff without my help." Kenshin said with a big, apologetic smile. Kaoru smiled at the tired redhead in front of her, and looked around the house. They had a lot to do, since all of Kenshin's belongings were scattered around in her room.

NO.

It was her room with Kenshin. It was THEIR room.

Kaoru couldn't help but smiled at the fact that starting from now, they would share everything. Good, bad, and everything in between. They were, after all, husband and wife now.

"Okaeri, anata. Come, help me arrange your stuff in the storage." She said. Kenshin took off his sandals and entered their room. He gave Kaoru a small, loving peck before closing the door behind him.

Finally.


End file.
